Thursday, October 25, 2007

Johnny Castillo is a long-time volunteer with the Museum's paleontology department. He has dug mammalian fossils in Nebraska, spent three dig seasons working with the Museum on a Triceratops, and this is his fourth time digging with the team in Seymour. He's also dug in Stone City and High Island.

"I was no different than any other kid, I guess. The top three things I wanted to do was dig for dinosaurs, go into Egyptology - I thought it would be really neat to go to Egypt and dig for treasure - or drive an ice cream truck. Getting to eat all the ice cream you want - that's a big thing for a kid."

This week, Johnny is working on removing a plaster jacket full of Dimetrodon fin spines and vertebrae from the site, and looking for the bones that could be underneath.

About

If you're interested in more general science updates, please visit the Museum's new blog.
For about a year, the Museum has been sending a team of paleontologists and volunteers to Seymour, TX, a little town about 2 hours outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area that happens to be the world's best site to find Dimetrodon - the biggest, baddest, pre-dinosaur predator.
Led by famous paleontologist Dr. Bob Bakker, the team uses a "CSI" approach - picking out every bit of fossilized evidence they can find, from teeth to tiny bone fragments - in the quest to discover exactly what creatures died here 290 million years ago - and more importantly, how they lived.
While they're in the field, you can follow their exploits here. They'll be posting daily with pictures and information about what they have found and what it all means. You can explore more about the species they are finding and the answers they are looking for at the links below.
They would love to answer your questions - so come back, and post often.

***Note

The team has now returned from Seymour, and though we will be posting relevant updates as they occur, daily discoveries are on hold until they return to the field. Please feel free to explore the links below to learn all about what they've found - and leave us a question or comment to let the team know what you think.